The field of this invention is journal bearings, particularly of the type having means for securing such journal bearings along a rotating headshaft.
In the prior art, there are many different types of journal bearings, many of which use a variety of techniques for securing the journal bearing with respect to the rotating member and the fixed member which include such structures generally as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,989,126; 3,767,279; 3,511,492; 2,649,922; and, 2,011,878. Some prior art references disclose the use of various types of clamping tapers for securing a bearing to a shaft, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,918,779; 3,656,785; 3,338,600; and, 786,315. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,924,957; 2,835,519; and, 3,007,753 all disclose the use of split rings and eccentrics to secure the inner race of the journal bearing to a shaft. Other prior techniques disclose the use of locking rings for securing a bearing to a shaft such as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,873,128 wherein a locking band is disposed between the inner race and the shaft. Alternative techniques include that such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,043,631 wherein a locking ring is disposed about a mounting sleeve to secure the bearing to the shaft.
However, heretofore critically machined shafts to receive the inner race of the bearing has caused difficulties because of expense involved in keeping such critical tolerances and in many instances require machined lips on the shaft to abut the bearing race for locating the bearing along the shaft. In an attempt to eliminate the machining of the shaft requirements and the specifics regarding where the bearing should in fact be located along the shaft, some prior art suggests the use of resilient clamping plugs capable of frictionally engaging a shaft for securing a bearing to the shaft such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,166,391. Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,473,267, a resilient annular ring is used to engage the outer race of a bearing for helping to secure the bearing in its proper position and prevent rotation of the outer race of the bearing with respect to the housing within which it is mounted. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,720 discloses the use of a resilient ring to be disposed within a groove in the shaft for cooperating with the surface of the bearing seat under compression to prevent rolling of the bearing ring in its position. However, the disclosed structure is not intended to be used for securing the ring along the shaft, for to operate as intended, a cooperating groove is necessary. So far as known, no threaded compression structure is disclosed in the prior art nor any equivalent thereof that allows the indiscriminate placing of a journal bearing along a rotating headshaft.